The government continues to be committed to realizing national clothing sovereignty, which is in line with the direction of the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo in the Proudly Made in Indonesia National Movement (Gernas BBI). The goal is to always use the best products made by the nation's children, as well as an economic buffer against the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Seeing the huge potential demand for textile and textile products (TPT), the Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) organized technical guidance activities for 400 State Civil Apparatuses (ASN) from Sabang to Merauke regarding the technique of determining fabric specifications for official uniforms.

The head of BSKJI at the Ministry of Industry, Doddy Rahadi, said that in order to achieve clothing sovereignty, it is necessary to pay close attention to the driving factors, namely ensuring the quality of clothing products through the use and application of standardization, which is a culture in every national textile industry activity to be able to compete in the domestic and global markets.

"One form of real support from the Ministry of Industry is through optimizing the Increase in the Use of Domestic Products (P3DN), the preparation of the Apparel Park integrated industrial area, as well as the development of a material center and digital platform for the Indonesian Smart Textile Industry Hub (ISTIH)," said Doddy.

Regarding the P3DN program, Doddy explained, the imposition of a domestic content level (TKDN) on each product, especially in the procurement of government goods and services, will have a major impact on the growth of the domestic economy.

"Meanwhile, in terms of standardization and technical specifications of fabric products for uniforms, it can be adjusted to the functions and conditions of the work environment. One of the quality references that can be used is the Indonesian National Standard (SNI),” explained Doddy.

In order to achieve this target, BBSPJIT has the appropriate competence to accommodate the need for uniform fabric quality assessment, both in accordance with technical regulations in the local government environment and special uniform fabric quality standards that are not currently available but are required by other stakeholders such as ministries/agencies, BUMN, BUMD, TNI, and POLRI.

"Every BSKJI work unit spread across Indonesia, we encourage them to always be able to provide solution and professional services for both industry and society. Those related to textile products, please take advantage of the industrial services at BBSPJIT. In addition to its strategic location, there are testing laboratory facilities that are guaranteed to be accurate, a Product Certification Agency, as well as competent human resources in the textile sector," said Doddy.

On the other hand, Doddy once revealed that one of the problems faced by the textile industry is the need for energy, especially with the discourse of increasing the basic electricity tariff. Related to this, the Services and Solution Center (ISSC) offers an energy conservation audit program to companies as an energy efficiency measure in production activities in the textile industry.

The program provides a profitable solution because the industry can find out the energy load borne by each machine and obtain recommendations for its efficiency strategy. "This will certainly support the implementation of Green Industry concepts," said Doddy.

Furthermore, Doddy explained, strengthening the competitiveness of the textile industry also requires production quality assurance and the application of SNI-based product quality standards. The Textile Center through the TEXPA product certification agency has increased the scope of product certification, including SNI 08-7035-2004 Upholstery fabric, SNI 8914-2020 Textile-Mask made of cloth.

"During the pandemic, the textile industry has played an important role in meeting the needs for COVID-19 prevention and control, such as producing masks and PPE," Agus said.

The Ministry of Industry believes that investment from the textile industry in Indonesia will continue to grow in the future. The realization of these investments includes the manufacture of fiber, yarn manufacture, fabric manufacture to the apparel industry. This is in line with the 35% import substitution target by 2022 initiated by the Ministry of Industry.

“Industrial development from this new investment will make it easier for the textile industry to obtain raw materials. We are very optimistic that today is the revival of the national TPT," said Agus.